Oak Ridge-inclusive park plans ongoing

Plans for a Manhattan Project National Park that would include Oak Ridge are ongoing.

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By D. Ray Smith/Special to The Oak Ridger

Oakridger - Oak Ridge, TN

By D. Ray Smith/Special to The Oak Ridger

Posted Feb. 1, 2013 at 5:14 PM
Updated Feb 1, 2013 at 5:15 PM

By D. Ray Smith/Special to The Oak Ridger

Posted Feb. 1, 2013 at 5:14 PM
Updated Feb 1, 2013 at 5:15 PM

Plans for a Manhattan Project National Park that would include Oak Ridge are ongoing.

Don Barger, senior regional director of the Southeast Regional Office of the National Parks Conservation Association, briefly discussed the status of the Manhattan Project park at a recent Lunch with the League meeting, sponsored by the League of Women Voters in Oak Ridge.

Several people in Oak Ridge have been working on the initiative, along with Los Alamos, N.M., Hanford, Wash., and Washington, D.C., to get approved last year without success. While the U.S. House of Representatives version of the bill to establish a new national park was supported by the majority, it failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to bring it out of the committee.

The plan is to establish a Manhattan Project National Park in Oak Ridge the Manhattan Project, which led to the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II.

Barger indicated he and the National Parks Conservation Association were continuing to pursue the passage of the bill in Congress and had plans to push for its consideration as soon as practical. He also indicated that U.S. Congressman Doc Hastings of Washington state continued to fully support the legislation.

With the retirement of U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, a sponsor for the bill in the Senate is needed. Barger also noted that the possibility of possibly using the Antiquities Act, signed into law on June 8, 1906, by President Teddy Roosevelt and used more than 100 times in ensuing years. This law allows presidents to designate property already owned by the government as restricted use such as national monuments.

Barger expressed strong support for the creation of the Manhattan Project National Park and said, “It is not just important for the nation, but for the entire world.”